LEWISTON, N.Y. (July 19, 2018) – A new band of leaders made their way up the Porter Cup scorebard in Thursday’s second round at Niagara Falls Country Club. In fact, there was movement all over the board as amateur golf’s elite prepared for moving day in the 72-hole stroke-play event.

>Thomas Walsh is only a few days removed from chasing the Players Amateur title – he came up fourth, six shots back – and now he’s at the top of the leaderboard again. Walsh called the Players Amateur a momentum-getter for the rest of his summer schedule. He has only had two bogeys in rounds of 69-65 to start the Porter Cup. At 6 under, he leads by one shot.

Walsh, the High Point, N.C., native who won the ACC individual title for Virginia this spring, rose nine spots on the leaderboard with his second-round 65. His closest chaser, Shae Wools-Cobb of Queensland, Australia, also had a 65. He birdied the final hole to reach that number and rise to solo second.

Wools-Cobb was the 2015 Mandurah Open Amateur winner. He finished T-6 at the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2017 and also made it to the third round of match play at the U.S. Amateur. Like Walsh, Wools-Cobb also shot up the Porter Cup leaderboard – to the tune of 14 spots.

A round of 4-under 66 also put Matt Parziale in the conversation. The 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, a firefighter in Brockton, Mass., is now part of a three-man tie for third at 4 under. That also includes Austin Hitt of Longwood, Fla., and Michael Mattiace of Jacksonville, Fla.

Other notable movers on Thursday included Scott Harvey, the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, who followed an opening 2-over 72 with a 66 on Thursday that included an eagle at the par-5 11th. He’s now in the top 10. Qi Wen Wong of Singapore had the round of the day, 63, and climbed into a tie for 30th.

Sam Meek, a Peterborough, Ontario native who plays for the University of Nevada, went 7 under on the back nine for a 28. It helped him get inside the top 20 to start the third round.

The two first-round leaders, Ben Schlottman and Ben Reichert, moved the wrong way in Round 2. Both started with rounds of 65, but Schlottman returned a 2-over 72 to fall into a tie for sixth and Reichert stumbled to 76, which left him T-26.

One of the premier amateur events in the
nation, this 72-hole stroke play invitational has
lots of
extra activities that give this event a special
flavor.
The winning player receives a green blazer, as
well
as an
invitation to the Master of the Amateurs
tournament in Melbourne, Australia. Pre-
tournament qualifying is in early July and
approximately five spots are available. The
qualifying
field is open to the
first 90 entrants with handicaps less than 3.